This invention relates to loose leaf ring metals or binders; and, more particularly, to a ring lock or ring guard removably attachable to a binder ring to provide a “gap free” binder ring which cannot inadvertently be opened thereby to prevent damage to, or the loss of, material stored in the binder.
It has long been a problem with loose leaf binders holding store hole punched sheets of paper and the like that the binder rings by which the material is stored in the binder can inadvertently be opened. Typically, if a binder is dropped or knocked off a table or other support, when it hits the ground or floor, the binder rings “pop” open and material stored in the binder can spill out. Or, the rings partially open and then do not properly reclose. Oftentimes when this latter occurs, the stored paper snags between the outer ends of the two ring halves forming the binder ring and is torn or otherwise damaged.
A number of attempts have been made to solve this problem. Recent attempts have been made to produce either 1) a “gap free” ring metal construction, or 2) a locking ring metal. A gap free design is one in which the outer, mating ends of binder ring halves are constructed so that even if the binder is subjected to a sudden opening force, the ends of the rings do not fully separate from each other and no gap is formed between them. A locking ring metal is one in which, when the binder is closed, the binder rings are locked in place and secured by some mechanism so the rings cannot be opened unless a prescribed sequence of events occur.
While the various gap free and locking ring metal constructions are to different degrees successful, there are still other approaches by which materials stored in a binder can be securely locked in place and so prevent loss of, or damage to, stored material.